1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying apparatus or an image recording apparatus, and particularly to an image forming apparatus which requires interchange of image forming means, replenishment of consumption agents, discarding of waste materials, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Description will hereinafter be made with an electrophotographic copying apparatus taken as an example.
In an image bearing member (hereinafter referred to as the photosensitive medium) applied to the electrophotographic copying apparatus of this type, photosemiconductors such as Se, CdS, organic semiconductors and the like are used as the raw materials, and irregularity in the components of these raw materials and irregularity in the manufacturing conditions such as the synthesis proportion and working temperature of the raw materials may also lead to irregularity in the physical performance and characteristic of the completed photosensitive medium. Therefore, if use is made of latent image forming means which are identical in latent image formation conditions such as the exposure amount of the original image and the voltage applied to the corona discharger, irregularity will usually occur in the latent image formed on the photosensitive medium in accordance with the performance and characteristic of the photosensitive medium. As a result, depending on the photosensitive medium, the developed image thereon may become thin or fog may be created in the background portion of the image. For this reason, it has heretofore been the usual practice that the charging condition, the exposure condition, etc. are set in conformity with the performance and characteristic of the photosensitive medium during the manufacture of the electrophotographic copying apparatus and after the apparatus has been used in the market, each time the photosensitive medium is interchanged, a serviceman sets the charging condition, the exposure condition, etc. in accordance with the performance and characteristic of the interchanged photosensitive medium in the same manner as during the manufacture. However, these operations not only require much labor but also require the serviceman to visit the user to adjust these conditions each time the photosensitive medium is interchanged, and this results in higher service cost and consequently higher copying cost on the part of the user. Also, the adjustment by the serviceman is carried out subjectively while he is watching the image and therefore, the difference in adjustment result attributable to the experience of the serviceman himself is great. Further, in the market, the various physical properties (surface potential, etc.) of the interchanged photosensitive medium are not measured, and this has led to the disadvantage that the adjustment is liable to be unreliable.